At Cold Stone Creamery, to order your ice cream they ask you…”like it, love it, gotta have it!?” Quickly you notice the labeled cups in front of you and realize their asking you what size you want. You take note of the sizes and place your order based on what you feel fits you best and fills your needs at that moment!
It’s a great experience, but now for the kicker…what if we asked our volunteers the same question? What if we asked them how they would rate their volunteering experience…hate it, like it, love it?
Whether we are plugging in a new volunteer or checking in on the ones we have…there is value in asking this question. In asking this, we take the time to make sure they are volunteering in their ‘sweetspot’ (the place they fit best). This benefits them and the ministry more than we know. Let’s take a look at the difference…
A ‘hate it’ volunteer…
- Is plugged in based on the our needs
- Dreads coming to serve and misses a lot of Sunday’s
- Isn’t growing spiritually through their volunteering
- Tells others they ‘hate’ volunteering each week (the reverse of recruiting)
A ‘like it’ volunteer…
- Is plugged in based a little on their gifts and a little on our needs
- Dreads coming to serve, but doesn’t look forward to it either
- May grow some spiritually from serving, serving is just what they ‘do’
- Doesn’t really tell anyone they ‘like’ volunteering (recruits no one)
A ‘love it’ volunteer…
- Is plugged in based a on their gifts and not our needs
- Loves coming to serve, and finds ways to go above and beyond
- Grows spiritually from serving; feels like they were ‘meant to’ do it
- Tells everyone they ‘love’ volunteering (recruits new people w/o trying)
Think about it…most the time you ask, “what do you think you would like to?” and the answer is always, “I’m not really sure, where do you need help most?”
This is when we have to resist answering their question and ask our own to find out where they would fit best…so they LOVE IT! This takes longer and can leave holes sometimes that we need filled. But God didn’t call us to fill holes; He called us to help people grow spiritually.
God created each of us with gifts. There is value in plugging people into ministry based on those gifts. When we do the difference is extraordinary for them and the ministry. When we don’t, we add more problems to our plate than we want.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
[...] I met with my Kids staff today. We had a very interesting discussion on volunteer recruiting. Interestingly enough, the discussion we had was very similar to what Pudge blogged today. [...]
June 5th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Great thoughts Pudge. I try to get people in positions that they will love and grow in but I know I can always do better so this was good stuff for me!